The Covenant Prayer

From Kay Warren...

Thank you Jesus that you are all knowing, all powerful and capable of keeping that which is given back to you. You hold my life in your hands. Order my steps rightly, and lead me with your heart of compassion. I remain yielded. I choose forgiveness for those I worked for in the past, and I choose your grace. You have promised us that you would not leave us or forsake us. Thank you that you do not change. Guide me through this turbulence in the journey called life, and lead me homeward to that place in heaven. Amen

Narcissism

In taking inventory of my actions as much as I hate to admit it narcissism (a tool beautifully designed by the Devil perhaps) is behind much of what I think is behind my fears and wants. It drives incorrect modes of thinking, is what leads us to escape the truth and puts a wall between us and God as well as those we love. The crazy self fulfilling prophecy of narcissism of course is that we refuse to admit we've fallen victim to it. But those things that we wish to control, surely because we would be better at controlling the situation and can't fathom any other outcome are a direct result of a level of malignant narcissism, at least for me anyway.

I found the following bible verse spoke to me on this topic.

Philippians 2:1-30: "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ..."

And the great thing about perhaps being willing to give up those old egotistical ways is that I can humbly admit I might even be wrong about the above. Doesn't matter. God is right and his truth is the truth for me whether I get it the first, second or even 54th time.

My Hebrew Name

My Hebrew Name is:
Michael 
Michael means "who is like God?" Michael appears in the Bible as a member of the tribe of Asher (Numbers 13:13). Michael is also the name of an angel and messenger of God, whose task is to act as the "defense attorney" for the Jewish people. Michael stays on our right side as we sleep at night; the right side is always associated with mercy and kindness.

My Hebrew Birthday is:

23 Tishri (5725)

On this Date in the Jewish Calendar:
Simchat Torah
Simchat Torah celebrates the completion and beginning of the annual Torah reading cycle. In the synagogue, all the Torah scrolls are taken out of the Ark, and the congregation dances "seven circuits" with great joy and song.

On this Date in Jewish History:
In 67 CE, Roman soldiers captured Gamla, a fortress in Israel's Golan region, and killed all its inhabitants. The ancient historian Josephus Flavius, a leader of the Jewish revolt against Rome, fortified Gamla as a main stronghold in 66 CE. The Romans attempted to take the city by means of a siege ramp, but were turned back by the defenders; only on the second attempt did they succeed in penetrating the fortifications and conquering the city. Thousands of inhabitants were slaughtered, while others chose to jump to their deaths from the top of the cliff. The location of ancient Gamla was discovered in archeological excavations during the 1970s; the remains have been preserved as a national park.

A Moving Story of Love

Normally this blog, when I do write, covers things that are more upbeat and light hearted.

This particular post however does not fit that characterization at all but it was something so compelling that I had to share it with you and this is really my only forum to do so.

I received in my in-box today photos were so touching and made me nearly cry that I feel I must share them.

Marine 2nd Lt James Cathey of Reno, Nevada was killed August 21st, 2005 by an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations near Al Karmah, Iraq.

When his body was returned to Reno family and friends met were on the tarmac to meet the casket as Marines lowered it from the plane as stunned passengers on the plane watched.

The night before the burial of her husband's body, James' wife Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of 'Cat,' and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. 'I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it,' she said. 'I think that's what he would have wanted'

The photos taken by Todd Heisler of The Rocky Mountain News, are incredible and moving.

JP Myers A Blog: The Long Hot Summer

JP Myers A Blog: The Long Hot Summer

AT&T: You won't?

This is a series of ads run by AT&T in 1993 (notice that Tom Selleck is the announcer?). The campaign is somewhat remarkable is the technologies and products feature are ones we take for granted now and did not exist back then. Well except for the video payphones.



Among the technologies predicted that would not exist for at least another five to ten years later were wifi, tablet PCs, GoToMeeting/WebEx, Google Book Search, Google Health, GPS, FastTrak and on-demand digital cable.

The only thing they were off on was they didn't anticipate that cell phones would be ubiquitous as well as internet based videoconferencing features of applications such as Skype and GoogleTalk) so need for the video payphones.

As fun as these ads are however at least one critic, Cory Doctorow, wrote in 1996 how the ads display a sense of hubris by an old-world corportate behmoth like AT&T and that just envisioning internet-era analogues of existing technology signifies the company missing the point of the internet. Like Edison's idea of "opera by telephone" at the turn of the last century or the "big beautiful tomorrow" campaigns of the sixties its corporate claptrap that wasn't getting the true innovation going on in the workshops and garages of the tinkerers, if only government and big business would get out of the way.

The irony of this of course is that while AT&T "celebrated" new technologies and innovation, they pursue policy positions against concepts such as net neutrality trying to stifle new-world companies like Google (who has created a hell of lot more amazing things in 11 years than AT&T has in 125 years) rather than trying to compete in the marketplace.  Even in the video we see predictions of two applications developed not by Ma Bell but Google, Google Book Search and Google Health.

So how about AT&T just go back and fire up Mr. Bell's lab?

Panera Bread's Toilet Gender Discrimination

I sent the following email to Panera Bread's customer service department just a few moments ago:

I'm a regular customer at Panera and sometimes come to use the wifi to do work on my computer in your pleasant environment. When I sit for several hours I usually buy a meal a well as drinks and sometimes another meal or snack later.

Today I have done just that at your North Hollywood location when I ordered a meal. I asked to use the restroom and was told it was not working. I asked if i could use the women's restroom and was told no that was not allowed. I was told to go to the Coffee Bean next door which wasn't practical since I had ordered a meal and had my computer out which I wasn't about to either leave unattended nor pack with me to go to the Coffee Bean.

Therefore I am forced to finish my meal and then leave unable to finish my work and having a less than pleasurable experience at Panera. I will probably be back but this is a bit disappointing. I also find it discriminatory to provide restroom facilities to one gender but not another.

Stalker or Brilliant Marketing?

A guy meets a girl on a plane and for whatever reason doesn't get her digits. So he takes to posting up flyers around Venice a month later searching her out. Is he a crazy stalker OR is this perhaps a brilliant viral marketing campaign for Southwest Airlines? (Props to Sean Bonner at Metblogs)

Remember When The Phone Was Black and Plugged Into The Wall?

I decided it was time to make some changes to my mobile devices which include:

A Samsung Instinct smartphone - basically Sprint's imitation of the iPhone.
A Sprint aircard
AN Asus Eee PC
An iPod Touch

I figured that if I could upgrade my aircard to a Sprint Mifi, I could then downgrade my Instinct to a regular phone (for phone and texting only) and downgrade my plan.  With the always on wifi from the Mifi then my iPod touch would become the device for mail and other computing on the road.  However I would eventually need to upgrade to the new iPod Touch later this fall so that I could gain the camera and microphone the my iPod is currently lacking.

Another option I had considered was upgrading to the new BlackBerry Tour.  The bottom line was that I was growing tired of the Instinct and it wasn't the greatest phone for email. You can only watch so much Hannah Montana on Sprint TV.

The one issue however was that the Sprint MiFi card is $299.  I figured that not only would I be spending the $299 for that but at least that amount in a couple of months to upgrade the iPod. 

So I ruled out the mifi option considering that Sprint's 4G network, currently in testing in Baltimore, will be available in about a year or two and that at that time even better iPods will be out and I'll have had my aircard long enough to get the upgrade rebate to mifi at even faster speeds.

So I figured out the best option was to upgrade the Instinct to a Blackberry Curve.  I really don't need the international functionality of the Tour and the Curve does everything I need and much better than the Instinct. 

I was able to turn in my Instinct for $50, so with the rebate on the phone, it makes the BlackBerry free (before sales tax).  So my main investment - after sending off the sales tax on the entire value of the purchase (which I don't understand) to Arnold - was $35 for a car charger. 

Now you may be asking why not just switch to iPhone.  I would - but I hate AT&T. So there. 

Random San Francisco street

The Chieftain Irish Pub in San Francisco.

Gas line in San Francisco

Leaving San Jose but first, Denny's.

Downtown Salinas

Ostrich in Santa Ynez. I got to feed them, they sure like to eat!

The Hitching Post. I ain't drinking no Merlot!

Greetings from Solvang!

Pea soup and red cabbage. My slightly Danish DNA is kicking in.

Signing the guest register

Just arrived in Buellton for pea soup.